Telemarketing: four professional organizations challenge the french state

The French state is showing great amateurism in its fight against illegal telemarketing, overlooking one obvious fact: "The profit to be made from illegal telemarketing is currently still greater than the risks involved," said Letitia James (New York Attorney General), a longtime fighter against this scourge.

Four professional organizations, SP2C, AFRC, FVD, and SNPI, had attorney Géraud Mégret file a petition with the Conseil d'État (France's highest administrative court) on September 23, 2026. They are asking it to annul Decree No. 2026-662 of July 23, 2026, on how consumer consent to commercial telephone solicitation is to be obtained, retained, and withdrawn.

A Constitutional Council ruling adds to the pressure

Another challenge emerged this summer. Several provisions of the law governing telemarketing and commercial prospecting, which lets three administrative authorities (ARCEP, CNIL, and DGCCRF) penalize the same offenses, were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council in a decision handed down on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

Years of failed measures

After the Pacitel label, the Bloctel do-not-call list, and the Yoni Sitbon affair (which revealed the inability to catch offenders), the French state is showing great amateurism in its fight against illegal telemarketing. It overlooked an obvious fact: "The profit to be made from phone spoofing (phone scams) or illegal telemarketing is currently still greater than the risks involved," said Letitia James (New York Attorney General) and Jessica Rosenworcel (former FCC chair; the FCC is the U.S. counterpart of ARCEP).

Many French companies, including insurance brokers, acquire new customers mainly by phone. They are therefore very much affected, even more so when they are about to close a sale or a merger.

Cover picture, Eric Dadian, Serge Papin (modified © European Union, 2026), Caroline Adam (© En-Contact).